Category: Slip and Falls

Injured In A Slip and Fall Accident

Posted on November 9, 2007 by James Sabatini - General, Slip and Falls

If you have been injured as a result of a slip and fall accident, it is important that you contact our law firm’s Hartford personal injury lawyers as soon as possible. In many slip and fall cases, the defective or dangerous condition that caused the fall will be repaired shortly after the incident. Consequently, by retaining one of our Connecticut trial lawyers, we can take the necessary steps to preserve the evidence. In some cases, the injuries to the person prevent the person from immediately notifying the property owner of the accident. By hiring our law firm, we will place the property owner on written notice of the claim. In other cases, the slip and fall accident took place on State of Connecticut or city property. In these cases, there are crucial and short time deadlines to place the State or municipality on written notice of your legal claim. If written notice is not given, you will be prohibited from bringing a lawsuit against the responsible town, city or the State of Connecticut. By hiring our Hartford Connecticut trial lawyers, we will place the relevant city or town on written notice.

As winter approaches, the number of slip and fall accidents that result in serious injuries rises. That is because the winter brings freezing temperatures, snow and ice. If you have been injured as a result of a slip and fall accident, please contact our law firm.

What Is A Slip And Fall – Premises Liability

Posted on August 26, 2007 by James Sabatini - Slip and Falls

A “slip and fall” or “trip and fall” is the generic term for an injury which occurs when someone slips, trips or falls as a result of a dangerous or hazardous condition on someone else’s property. It includes falls as a result of water, ice or snow, as well as abrupt changes in flooring, poor lighting, or a hidden hazard, such as a gap or hard to see hole in the ground. The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control estimates that in 2004, more than 8 million people were injured in falls.

If you are on someone else’s property and injure yourself as a result of a dangerous condition on the property, the landowner or business proprietor may be liable for your injuries.

Slip and Falls and Qualified Municipal Immunity

Posted on May 15, 2007 by James Sabatini - Legal News, Slip and Falls

Slip and fall lawsuits can be complex when the injury took place on municipal property. This lates case is an example of the hurdles the injured plaintiff faces when injured in a slip and fall on town or city property. In the case of Durant v. Hartford Board of Education, plaintiff slipped on a water in a stairwell while picking up her son from an after school day care program at a Hartford public school. She was injured and filed a personal injury suit against the Board of Education. The Superior Court held that plaintiff’s action was barred by General Statutes 52-557n, which gave the Board a qualified municipal immunity for discretionary acts. The Appellate Court reversed, holding that the plaintiff fell within the identifiable person-imminent harm exception in General Statutes Section 52-557n (a) (2) (B) because the puddle in the stairwell was limited in both its duration and location and because the potential for harm resulting from a fall in a stairwell was significant and foreseeable. Durrant v. Board of Education, 96 Conn. App. 456 (2006) (Schaller, J. dissenting). The case is now before the Connecticut Supreme Court.

CT Adopts Mode of Operation Rule

Posted on April 23, 2007 by James Sabatini - Legal News, Slip and Falls

The Connecticut State Supreme Court recently adopted the mode of operation of rule. This rule is extremely important for people injured as a result of a fall down (slip and fall) at a self service store. Self service stores are supermarkets, cafeterias, fast-food restaurants and other businesses where the customer selects the merchandise or food from the displays as opposed to an employee getting the product or food for the customer.

The mode of operation rule allows a customer injured due to a condition inherent in the way a store is operated to recover compensation without establishing that the store had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition. For example, if a restaurant has a self-service salad bar one would expect that customers will be dropping food on the floor. If this is occurring and the restaurant does not take reasonable measures to prevent this from happening then the restaurant is liable for injuries suffered by a customer that falls due to food on the floor.

The rule does away with requiring the injured person from proving that the restaurant had specific notice of the very item that caused the person to fall. This rule will allow many more injured customers to rightfully recover compensation in slip and fall incidents.

The name of the case that adopted the mode of operation rule is Kelly v. Stop and Shop, Inc. and the decision will be officially released on April 3, 2007.

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